The modern communications era has brought about a tremendous expansion of wireline and wireless networks. Computer networks, television networks, and telephony networks are experiencing an unprecedented technological expansion, fueled by consumer demand. Wireless and mobile networking technologies have addressed related consumer demands, while providing more flexibility and immediacy of information transfer.
Current and future networking technologies continue to facilitate ease of information transfer and convenience to users. The proliferation of local, regional, and global networks such as the Internet has availed a sea of information to society. These networking technologies have expanded to increasingly include wireless and mobile technologies. Through these networks, information can be downloaded to desktop systems, wireless systems, mobile systems, etc. For example, information available via the Internet can now be downloaded onto mobile wireless units, such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, etc. One such technology facilitating the transfer of Internet content to and from wireless devices is the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which integrates the Internet and other networks with wireless network platforms. Generally, WAP is a set of protocols that accounts for characteristics and functionality of both Internet standards and standards for wireless services. It is independent of wireless network standards, and is designed as an open standard. WAP bridges the gap between the wireline Internet paradigm and the wireless domain, to allow wireless device users to enjoy the benefits of the Internet across both platforms.
Second generation wireless service, often referred to as 2G wireless service, is a current wireless service based on circuit-switched technology. 2G systems, such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Personal Communications Services (PCS), use digital radio technology for improved quality and a broader range of services over first generation mobile technologies. 3G, or third generation, refers to a set of digital technologies that promises improvements in capacity, speed and efficiency by deploying new packet-based transmission methodologies between terminals and the network. Users of 3G devices and networks will have access to multimedia services such as video-on-demand, video conferencing, fast web access and file transfer. Existing and future services are, and will continue to be, provided by network service operators who make services and applications available to mobile device users via the network.
One particular service feature currently available for communicating information is a “push” feature (also known as a “notification” feature or “alert” feature). In a typical client/server model, a client requests a service or information from a server, which then responds in transmitting information to the client. This is generally referred to as “pull” technology, where the client pulls the information from the server. For example, entry of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) at a client device which is then dispatched to the server to retrieve the associated information is a pull transaction.
In contrast, “push” technology generally refers to a means to transmit information to one or more devices without a previous user action. Thus, there is no explicit request from the client before the server transmits its information, and therefore push technology essentially includes server-initiated transactions. Push technologies can be used in connection with various protocols and communication technologies. For example, some representative push technologies include Short Message Service (SMS), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Push, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), as well as others.
Thus, there are currently a large number of mobile push technologies, and the future will only bring further increases in the number of mobile push technologies that are available. Each of these push technologies has its own particular characteristics, and therefore the generation and delivery of push messages to each of these different push technologies typically requires specialized knowledge applicable only to that technology. Current network applications that have the capability to push messages to recipient mobile devices are limited to technology-specific solutions. For example, an HTTP-SMS gateway only allows for a message to be sent from the Internet to an SMS-compliant terminal. With the continual increase of available push technologies, these brute force solutions become prohibitively undesirable, and present a significant obstacle for application developers who would prefer to focus on the development of the application, rather than determining how to push messages to an ever-increasing body of push technologies.
Accordingly, there is a need in the network communications industry to streamline the manner in which network applications provide push messages to multiple mobile push technologies utilized by the intended recipient mobile terminals. The present invention solves these and other shortcomings of the prior art, and offers numerous advantages over prior art systems and methodologies.